Title IX

Today, November 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Education took another step towards sweeping campus sexual assault and harassment under the rug. The proposed regulations, released this morning and accessible here, would weaken the protections of the 46-year old "Title IX" which exists to ensure every student has access to a safe and equal education.

This morning, the U.S. Department of Education withdrew its 2011 guidance on responding to sexual violence in schools and replaced it with interim guidance that is less protective for survivors. It is especially troubling that this new guidance was issued just days after the Department of Education received thousands of comments urging it to uphold the 2011 guidance and its protections for student victims of sexual violence.

Yesterday Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that the Department of Education will commence a “notice and comment” process to formulate guidance regarding schools’ responsibilities in handling sexual harassment and sexual violence and made clear her intention to replace the Obama Administration-era 2011 guidance which has provided protection to sexual assault survivors and clarity for schools to respond to incidents of sexual harassment and violence.

New Mexico teenager Karina Ramirez nearly dropped out of school just two weeks after the birth of her baby, because school officials said she had missed too many days. In fact, family responsibilities are the top reason why young women drop out of high school; the Gates Foundation found that 26% of students who dropped out of high school did so because they became a parent. Some are pushed out of school by administrators or teachers who don’t want parenting students there, and some just fall out of school because of inadequate support.

Sexual violence against women is rampant at colleges and universities. Around 10 million1 young women are currently enrolled in college and they are eager to pursue their chosen majors and prepare for their futures.

Drawing extensively from the National Judicial Education Program’s publication Judges Tell: What I Wish I Had Known Before I Presided in an Adult Victim Sexual Assault Case , the University of Pennsylvania developed a guide titled Sexual Misconduct Complaints: 17 Tips for Student Discipline Adjudicators, intended for adaptation by individual academic institutions. The guide provides some of the “training